Cataclysm Reflection

I have to admit- which is hard for me because a lot of people I know aren't necessarily on the same boat as me- but I am really excited for Mists of Pandaria. There's something so exciting about new content in WoW that gets me giddy. I did not feel this way at all for Cataclysm. In fact, I was flat out dreading it. I was extremely content in my WotLK happy-land, and most of my favorite memories happened in that expansion. Fast forward to the end of Cataclysm, and I've traveled servers, lost guilds, switched alts, PvP'd, quit, joined other MMOs, all to end up back here, where I eagerly await MoP. Cataclysm can soon become a faint memory...a forgotten, badly digested meal. And yet, it's effects on me are endless. I'm entering MoP on a realm, nearly by myself, with a class I am very worried about. The silver lining is that I get Tree form back.
So Cataclysm, what happened? How did I end up here? And how am I still playing?
Hopping of all sorts.
Cataclysm started out good. We were cruising through Tier 11 content fast and were well on our ways to finishing normal in a timely fashion. Then suddenly, a lot of people had real life hit them, and the guild disappeared. I was a bit shocked by how fast things changed, but it had happened in WotLK, and I had somehow dealt with it.
But when I look back on it, I had a horribly long journey into finding a new guild after <Taint> fell apart. I sat around with the skeleton crew for a few months, before trying out 25 man casual raiding (short...there's no such thing), then 25 man hardcore raiding (too...bleh), before finally landing in a 10 man casual/hardcore guild. This was the guild I felt mostly at home with, had my greatest raiding experience in, and am probably most devoted to. Even today, while not in WoW, I keep in touch and have followed them to other games. So the entire idea of searching for a new WoW guild after them seemed nearly impossible. It looked long and tedious, and I honestly didn't think I would find a place or people that I felt as comfortable with as I did them.
I stopped playing right in the middle of T11, before that ZA/ZG patch came out. A couple of my old guildies tried out Rift, so I followed them as well. It was fun, but we all lost interest after a bit.
Some of my real life friends convinced me to try out a new realm that they played on in WoW, and I raided a majority of Tier 12 with them. It was a different experience, but we still progressed well. Had LAN parties. I had my frustrations, but thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless. Still, time went on, and SWTOR was around the corner, so I left shortly after T13 was released. I really liked SWTOR, and spent a lot of time playing it. But something also wasn't right.The game lost its sparkle for me shortly after I hit 50 on a toon. I tried making alts, and at one point, got really into one, but once I hit a certain chapter in the story, the newness faded fast. I returned to WoW, simply because my druid will always be that comforting blanket I can't live without. Ultimately, I ended up with a friend on Icecrown. I'm pretty satisfied here, although I'm still stuck playing Alliance. Icecrown is well populated realm that's PVE, and after the news about Garrosh, I'm pretty sure this is where I will stay into MoP.
What can I do for you?
Perhaps the most serious problem I felt was how druids, particularly restoration, was being handled throughout Cataclysm. We struggled in Tier 11, were amazing in Tier 12, then nerfed back to Tier 13. While I have yet to really feel these changes, I look at what is in store for us MoP and seriously worry about where we are going as Trees. But hey, we are going to be trees again you know. The biggest problem I see with us isn't that we are being nerfed, buffed, nerfed or anything of the sorts- I just don't feel like we are given a clear goal- we're constantly in this grey area, where we are okay at everything, but not really particularly good at anything. And while that's not terrible, it has its downsides when we seriously lack utility or uniqueness. Sure, we're the "HoT" class, but how effective is that really? It can be, but its not why we're picked up as a class. It's not for Rebirth, since someone else can do that now. Our healing output is subpar at best. Our AoE heals have been nerfed back to Tier11 status, which isn't good. Looking into MoP, there are some signs of hope. In our talents, we get a possible utility buff, and Nature's Swiftness was buffed a bit. I haven't seen any vast improvements, and Healing Mushrooms (technically our ONLY new healing spell) is subpar at best. We are being loaded down with GCDs (both Lifebloom and Healing Mushrooms require 3) and I'm kinda worried about how our toolbox is shaping out. But I'm clinging to the belief that there is some hope before I through in the towel and switch classes. There was a time where I was going to- I thought I'd go hunter and do DPS, but I always came back to my druid. It's like with a sports team. I'm not a bandwagon fan; I'm a true fan. Been in it forever, through the bad and good. And sometimes I feel like I will be there through it all, because despite everything, my druid is still my main, my favorite class.
One is the loneliest number
The biggest downfall of Cataclysm was that I lost a lot of friends. To real life, boredom or disinterest.
I didn't really lose them- the wonders of Facebook. But, in general, I am alone on my server, trekking my way around. You can't really blame people; between expansion time is the quietest time in guilds all around, and with other games like Diablo 3 and SWTOR out, there's plenty of other choices to take into consideration. It's certainly not their fault that I'm the only person in the world that found stuff to do on WoW. But sometimes, those empty guild chats and quiet friends lists can be discouraging.
Luckily, a huge thing Cataclysm taught me was that, although at times limiting, I can trekk through an MMO as a solo player just fine. Whether it be earning gold, leveling new toons, or simply preparing for the new expansion, I've found plenty to keep me busy, especially as of late. You learn to take things in stride, even when you feel lonely. And leaning towards appealing to the casual gamer, something Blizzard seems to have shifted their focus on, has plenty of benefits for the solo gamer as well. Unfortunately, I don't feel that Cataclysm was made that way, so the transition might've been a bit hopeless in this expansion. Yet this direction is taking full shape in Mists of Pandaria, and I am definitely looking forward to it.
Final Thoughts
So how do I feel about Cataclysm? Well, to be honest, especially compared to WotLK, I hated it. It was...if I will, a "Cataclysm" for me and my Wow playing. I left the game a lot (once for Rift, once for SWTOR, and one kinda time for Diablo 3) and didn't regret it. I lost a lot of interest in raiding, leveling became so easy it was a bore, and the community seemed to become more distant, yet restless at the same time.
I felt incredibly alienated as a resto-druid player. The ups and downs of our changes in each tier was discouraging at best. I still sometimes feel that they have no idea what to do with us. We didn't have the right utility, we didn't have the good enough output (and when we did, people QQ'd and we got nerfed). We keep getting told our toolbox is good enough (which it could be yes), but over and over, it seems that that belief is flawed.  
Raiding and healing has become a stale activity. I particularly don't care for raiding anymore. Finding a guild is difficult, especially one I want to raid with, and the LFR experience is nothing I want to experience anytime soon.
Still, like I've said before, I'll stick it out. There are some fun, albeit shallow, things to look forward to in MoP, and I realized that if focus on the solo experience, and the smaller group content, and the Pet Battle System, I'll be fine. For how long though, remains to be seen.